Marina Hose Removal for H&S

nigelmercier said:
No it doesn't. Both my tanks were contaminated by bacteria growing in a hose, so there had been at least 250 litres run through the hose before filling the second. As I lifted the hose away at the end, I could still see lumps of bright green snot coming out.
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Sorry to learn you have experienced such a problem. Must have been a real PIA to sort out. However, my opinion and comment was based upon my own experiences taking on fresh water with just a quick flush through at just a few waterside locations here and there.
 
Its the same with everything I suppose. H&S , Legislation by a Water Authority,Probably, knowing the States, they don t make any money out of it.
When you pay for water in Guernsey now you also pay a waste water charge as well, They probably had problems on how they were going to work that out....
Just another improvement to our lives. Was nt today International Day of Stress or something?
Well I did nt have any till I read this thread...
Its probably my fault anyway. I always wash my boat down before I fill my tank, thats why the bills were so big....,and the people who live near the Salerie will have to take their cars to Laserwash...a company to which I have no connection other than to read the magazines in the waiting room..
 
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I'm currently in a benevolent exchange of emails with Hozelock about the use of plasticisers in hoses. Thsi is more insidious than bacteria.

If you leave water in a hose in the sun, the temp rises, which dissolves the chemicals in the tubing. Hozelock theory is that this is OK, as after a few weeks, the plasticisers leach out.


Umm, no, three month old hose into a bird bath. Plasticiser froth.

View attachment 36784
 
There can be all sorts of contaminants in the hose - leached plasticisers and other materials of the hose, bacteria and moulds, and whatever might be picked up off the pontoon surfaces or if someone drops the hose in the water. For these reasons, what water we do drink on board is a certain supermarket's Basics water at 17 or 20p per litre. The boats water supply is used for washing and showering only, and even then when filling up I run off for 30 seconds, wipe the end of the hose with a clean cloth or kitchen roll, and only insert it a very short distance into the inlet.

I do recognise that Legionnella can be contracted from shower heads (in fact hotel room showers have been identified as one of the major sources along with air conditioning systems), but I am willing to take that risk.
 
This thread has moved in to an area of my expertise.

Hoses: It is the law that a hose connected to the mains water supply cannot be left running in a body of water unless something is installed to prevent siphoning. When you fill your swimming pool you must leave a minimum of 6 inches between the end of the hose and the surface of the water.

Legionalla: This is a bacteria that is extremely harmful if it takes hold in your LUNGS. Breathing in fine water droplets is how you catch legionella. You can drink as much legionella infected water as you like, in fact you probably do all the time, you won't come to any harm all the while the legionella is in your stomach. It grows rapidly in stagnant water so when you go to your boat or a hotel shower always run the water for 30 seconds before getting in to flush out the water in the U bend of the shower hose.
 
Thanks for the clarity PEJ, After Sarabande s post I was beginning to think that I would have to save water for washing,and drink Beer.
I can understand the worry about the hosepipes, but they are fed by even larger plastic pipes slung under the pontoons.
The removal of the hosepipes would mean less flow in these pipes,only increasing the problem.
If I connected my own hose, which after seeing Sarabande s, I am reluctant to do, to these taps, am I liable to contaminate my tanks even more?
I am now worried that although I do have brilliant charcoal filters on all the cold taps, that give me water as good as bottled, in my opinion, what about the washing up.
I too checked the calender, Are we sure its a H&S issue, and not the first of many improvements by the new CEO of the Harbour, who is the same gender as my SWIMBO?
My SWIMBO is constantly changing things, moving things around, putting things away, buying cushions, its one of the reasons I have a boat.
Perhaps all the pontoons will become colour coordinated. Boats arranged in alphabetical name order, or Registered number.
Bandit, It may just be the start of a master plan!!!! Its a good tide for Herm Boxing Day. I will put a bucket on Santa s List. I think they use a borehole!!, and fill up then.
 
We treat water in the boats tank with chlorine although it has been stated that silver hydrogen peroxide is better.

I empty the tank at the start of the season and fill with fresh and chlorine.

We don't drink water from the tank we use a two gallon can filled from the pontoon standpipe that we fill before every trip for hot drinks and either drink bottled water , beer or wine.

We all need to wash the boat down from time to time and fill our tanks from a hose, the only difference is now that will be the boat owners hose that sits in a warm sweaty mildew stained locker with water in the locker and inside the hose, the locker is it in the sunshine and occasionally it is weeks between use or even so the same or more risk for the boat owner.

So at the end of the day one has if one uses a boat use a hose and fill a water tank from it if one spends time on the boat.

If one bans hose nozzles and direst connection of a hose to any boat or equipment under pressure one removes the risk of back pressure and contamination of the water supply that way .

Back siphoning and contamination of the water supply in Guernsey by marina water or water from the hose being sucked back into the mains in Guernsey is highly unlikely as pontoon taps are the lowest point of the mains water system and one way check valves would stop that either before serving the pontoon or on each spur.

Is one aware of high levels of sickness from contaminated water in marinas for normal nasties and legionella I have not heard of high numbers or even low number risks in fact until the poster above he is the only incident I have ever heard of.

I know there re requirements for commercial premises and hotel establishments but what about every house that has a dirty hose lying in the garden, statistically that must be a much greater risk to mankind.

If simple double check non return valves were fitted, there were simple rules in place, a higher awareness campaign by education was used the risk to mankind would be reduced from very low to extremely low numbers.
 
I have always provided my own hose . There is nothing unusual in that hereon inland waters.
I have a blue hose of the type that rolls up flat into a cassette so very little water can remain in it .

For drinking and cooking we buy 5 litres of water from the suermarket and refill it from the mains. The 5 litre container is sufficiently robust to survive the season.

I do not add anything to the water tank, other than water. The tank , and pipes are drained down over the winter. In the spring I refill the tank and flush the whole tank worth of water through the pipework . This procedure has avoided any ill affects for six years.
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Dill et Bound said:
Thanks for the clarity PEJ, After Sarabande s post I was beginning to think that I would have to save water for washing,and drink Beer.
I can understand the worry about the hosepipes, but they are fed by even larger plastic pipes slung under the pontoons.
The removal of the hosepipes would mean less flow in these pipes,only increasing the problem.
If I connected my own hose, which after seeing Sarabande s, I am reluctant to do, to these taps, am I liable to contaminate my tanks even more?.
Click to expand...

The water in the pipes slung under the pontoon is no different to the water in your underground pipe that feeds you house except in one respect, more one that further down. So no need to worry about that water straight from the pipe. Filtering that water with your charcoal thingy will take out the inorganic stuff and make it taste nicer but will not affect any bacteria in the water but there should be no bacteria in it anyway because it has been treated by your local water company and is in an air tight pipe up to the valve on the stand pipe tap. Now, the hose attached to the stand pipe is open ended and anything can get in but not much will in reality. I would always give the hose a good flush anyway, there could be nasties on the inside of the hose.

The one difference with the under slung hose is that it is not kept cool by the earth like a buried pipe so THEORETICALLY the water could warm up and stay stagnant if no one was using the taps and keeping it flowing. In that case Legionella could grow and you could be putting legionella in your tank. But, as I said earlier, ingesting legionella in to your gut is no problem. Your stomach acid will kill it stone dead. The problem with legionella only comes when you BREATH it in to your lungs. Hence always flush out your shower hose before use. Not a big problem on a boat but always a good precaution in a hotel, you never know when the shower was last used, it could be days even weeks, plenty of time to legionella to grow.
 
I remember a few years ago during a visit to Padstow, the mains water was off for a few hours and one of the harbour hose pipe was left hanging in the water with the tap on, a lot of water got drawn back into the mains system, subsequently the water was off for a lot longer than anticipated!

We had the hoses removed from the marina previously, they were soon reinstated but with a small disclaimer notice saying the water from the hose shouldnt be used for drinking due to bacteria within the hose. Have only consumed water from the marina supply once and it tasted awful, I survived it with no effects but would rather drink bottle water when on the boat for the taste preference.
 
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